“Public notaries in Serbia had a difficult start in 2014 when they, as representatives of a new legal profession, entered the justice system of the Republic of Serbia. Nonetheless, in the past 5 years they have justified their existence”, Justice Minister Nela Kuburović stated at the “Five Years of Notary Public in Serbia” ceremony.
The Justice Minister said that the introduction of the new profession was met with a series of challenges and preparatory activities in which she, back then as an Assistant Justice Minister, was involved, as much in the finalisation of the legal framework regulating the notaries competences as in procedure of appointing notaries. “My predecessor Nikola Selaković and I firmly believed in this profession and that introducing would bring legal security for our citizens and the economy, including unburden the courts – all of which has proved to be the true result of the notaries’ work over the past 5 years”, the Minister stressed. She found that in the past year alone the notaries’ work had been significantly improved owing to the automatisation (them being connected to the electronic registries of other government organs) which has made their work easier and faster.
Additionally, the Justice Minister noted that a public notary office had become a one-stop-shop, i.e. a place where citizens could finalise the entire legal process of real-estate sale and purchase and registration with the cadastre. “In this way, the citizens are able to exercise their right in less time and with lower costs involved“, she stated, and added that the Ministry of Justice would continue working on strengthening the public notary system.
Minister Kuburović then said that the Government of the Republic of Serbia was undoubtedly committed to the fight against money laundering and terrorism, noting that Serbia was no longer on the so-called ‘grey list’ of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) – a result to which the notaries themselves had contributed significantly through their role which stems from the Countering Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism Act. “In less than two years, you have become members of the International Union of Notaries, and today, you are observer members of the Council of the Notariats of the European Union (EU). This, on the one hand, is a testament to your good work, and on the other, a new challenge for you to meet the EU standards and align your work with those standards”, the Justice Minister said. She explained that the new challenges would be in the further development of the ICT system which would allow the notaries to have an even better connection to other government institutions and judicial professions as well as in the application of the new Personal Data Protection Act.
Minister Kuburović stressed that the Ministry of Justice would continue its efforts to advance the notaries’ work and to be their supporter and partner by improving the legal framework and organizing notarial examination. “Your reputation and the trust the citizens will have in you will depend on your work and performance“, the Minister concluded.
President of the Serbian Chamber of Notaries Mr Srbislav Cvejić stated that the notaries had achieved excellent results in the previous 5 years. “It could be argued that introducing public notaries has increased legal certainty and security for Serbia’s citizens’, he noted. Mr Cvejić added that owing to the notaries’ work, double sales of real estate had been averted and the number of disputes between the contracting parties before the courts had been reduced many times over.
Representatives of international notarial associations and chambers of France, Germany, Russia, Belarus, Republic of Srpska, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Austria, Bulgaria and Romania also spoke at the ceremony which marked the fifth anniversary of the Serbian public notaries’ work.